Promoting a Free and Christian Alabama

Coronavirus Omnibill Blots Out the Sky . . .

. . . And most of the 2 trillion doesn’t even combat the virus. Forbes (hardly a bastion of conservative thought) reports that the bill is jam-packed with pork:

While governors begged for vital medical supplies, the spending packages each contained massive increases even in obscure, small agencies.

$1.1 billion in the Pelosi bill would have more than doubled the budgets of The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment of the Arts and the Humanities. The Senate bill provided funding of $200 million.

$500 million in the Pelosi bill to The Institute of Museum and Library Services (FY2019 budget: $230 million). This agency is so small that it doesn’t even employ an inspector general. The Senate bill provided $50 million.

$600 million in the Pelosi bill to National Endowment of the Arts and the Humanities (FY2019 budget: $253 million) – In 2017, our study showed eighty-percent of all non-profit grant-making flowed to well-heeled organizations with over $1 million in assets. The Senate bill provided $150 million.

As Forbes reports, while enormous, this spending spree is decidedly smaller than Pelosi’s mammoth-sized superbill, which even called for $25 billion to be sent to the Federal postal service. Federal agencies (and other entities) still made a pretty profit, though:

A quick spotlight on agencies receiving coronavirus recovery in the Senate bill includes:

$88 million to the Peace Corps for “evacuating volunteers and U.S. direct hires from overseas.” The agency just fired all of their 7,300 volunteers working in 61 countries on March 15. The Pelosi bill allocated $90 million.

$250 million to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The subsidy would cover “taxpayer services,” “enforcement,” and “operations support.” The Pelosi bill provided $602 million.

$350 million to the State Department for “migration and Refugee Assistance.” This funding would help minimize the virus spread among vulnerable populations. The Pelosi bill earmarked $300 million.

$400 million to the federal Election Assistance Commission to assist the states with “election security grants.” The Pelosi bill provided $4 billion.

$30.8 billion to the Department of Education for “state Fiscal Stabilization Fund” that provides grants to support elementary and secondary education ($13.5 billion), Higher Ed ($14.25 billion), and State flexibility grants ($3 billion). The Pelosi bill asked for $50 billion.

As usual, politicians rarely let a good crisis go to waste without filling the pockets of their favourites from the money gained from fleeced taxpayers.